Has Trump 'Evolved' on Immigration and the Wall?

A West Wing source says the White House is “cautiously optimistic” that a government shutdown can be avoided by the Friday spending deadline. Questions remain: Can the House pass its continuing resolution (which leadership spent Wednesday whipping on) to fund the government for another month? Defense budget hawks and the most conservative members have remained difficult gets, but as my colleague Haley Byrd reports, GOP leaders are hoping to buy off some Democrats with a six-year extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

But even if the CR passes the House, will Senate Democrats agree to a budget proposal that does not include protection for immigrant beneficiaries of the sunsetting Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program? And it’s not just Democrats. Republican Lindsey Graham expressed his opposition to a CR that does not adequately provide for defense funds and does not address the DACA issue. Graham seems to be holding out hope for a bipartisan compromise on DACA, which appears to have no purchase at the White House. (Trump, in an interview with Reuters, called the idea “horrible.”)

It’s looking increasingly unlikely the White House can play much more than a bystander role in this latest up-against-the-clock showdown. Chief of staff John Kelly’s visits to Capitol Hill with lawmakers of both parties seem to have done little to move the ball forward. He told Fox News’ Bret Baier Wednesday evening that “it would seem that they have the votes.”

But if they don’t, that’s a problem for President Trump. A shutdown, even one held up by Democrats over a relatively low-priority issue like DACA, isn’t likely to play in the majority party’s favor. After all, Republicans control both houses of Congress and the executive branch (even if that is complicated by small GOP margins). A government shutdown is no way to start off an election year that’s already looking abysmal for Republicans. So what will the White House do about ensuring it doesn’t happen? Can they do anything?

One More Thing—John Kelly’s appearance on Capitol Hill and subsequent live interview with Bret Baier seems to have produced one interesting revelation: that President Trump’s views on immigration have evolved. Here’s the Associated Press: